Amid tensions with China, EAM S Jaishankar hails ‘broader’ India-Japan ties with Indo-Pacific as focus

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Friday, hailed the strategic relationship between India and Japan and said that the two countries have a vision for the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking at the launch of India Japan report by FICCI, Jaishankar said that the breadth of Indo-Japan dialogue has now become broader.

“India has a vision for Indo-Pacific, as indeed does Japan. Both of us, in many ways, have tried to shape the Indo-Pacific narrative. Today, the seamlessness of what happens in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions underlines the importance & relevance of Indo-Pacific,” Jaishakar said. 

Jaishankar’s confidence in the bilateral relations comes at a time when Japan has undergone a leadership change after Shinzo Abe resigned citing health reasons. 

Japan only country with which India holds annual summit as well as 2+2 dialogue

Expressing confidence in the new leadership of that country under Yoshihide Suga, the EAM said, “Indian and Japanese leaders when they meet and talk now, the breadth of their conversation, the landscape of interaction and the playing arena has become broader. That’s an important development, signifies maturing of relationship.”

Adding that the relationship between the two nations has become strategic, Jaishankar said that New Delhi and Tokyo ‘are talking much more about issues which go beyond our relatively narrow interests’.  

“Japan is the only country with which we have an annual summit as well as 2+2 dialogue, and that tells how much more in sync we have become in terms of how we look at the world and define our interests,” he added. Both, Japan as well as India are affected by China’s expansionist designs in the Pacific region as well on land. India and China have been locked in a standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and have held several rounds of dialogue to resolve the crisis. Japan, on the other side, has been battling China’s nefarious designs in the South China Sea, where it is locked in a bitter battle over Senkaku/ Diaoyu islands.